There were three things that happened to me in the mid to late '70s that hooked me on the Cobra, my HO scale Cobra slot car, the Gumball Rally, and the first time I heard Bill Cosby's 200 MPH. Once I joined the working world I realized a Cobra was only a pipe dream, but still admired them.
A few years ago i was surfing the 'net just to see how rediculous the prices were. In the search I came across Factory Five Racing. Thought to myself "these look pretty cool". But I still thought at $10K they still weren't a possiblity considering I had just start restoring a '66 Galaxie.
About a year later the Galaxie project had stalled and I was back looking at the FFR website. The wife wandered by and asked what I was looking at. I showed her the cars, how the were put together, and the price. She then asked "Why don't you get one?", as if it was only a new pair of shoes. I couldn't believe what i was hearing. I had to ask her if she was kidding about six times. She said she knew the Cobra was my dream car and that we had enough equity in the house to swing it. Needless to say I was at the bank the next day.
Greg